Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Snippets from Our Day

They day started with us all sleeping in from our long Tuesday. The boys have PE, Boffer Sword combat, and Gymnastics/Karate (G&C-gymnastic/K-Karate). So they are very tired and sleep in on Wednesdays.
Breakfast was waffles. MMMmmm. And a Chai Latte for me. With the addition of Crystallized Ginger. They are round slices. I gave a small piece to Connor and one to Ki. Connor asks if it is a fruit. I tell him no, it’s a root. Well, that instantly gets Gavin’s attention!
[G]- “Square Roots!? I have a Square Root game…..”
[me] /thinking-‘ACK!’/ -
“no, it’s a ROUND ROOT. No square root games with a round root. It won’t work.”
[G] /oblivious to the discrepancy of the geometric shapes of the roots and once again trying to fit a round root into a square hole. /
“Connor, what’s the square root of 15?”
[C]- “7? I don’t know”
[G]- /doesn’t bother to let us in on the deep secrects of the square of 15/
“Ki, what’s the square root of 4?”
[K] /ignores Gavin/
[G] “Ki, how about the square root of 1, that’s kind of hard.”
[K] /ignores Gavin/
[me] “1.23?” /I am really pretty clueless and don’t care, but like to have fun blurting answers and can’t stand unanswered questions/
[G] “no” /to me/ then to Ki- “Ki. How about the square root of 1? That’s the easiest square root.”
[K] /ignores Gavin/
[me] “I don’t think Ki wants to play your Square Root game”
[G]- “Ki, you need to get better with square roots.”
[K] “why?” /apathetically/
[G]- “So you can do the Pythagorean theorem.”
[K] “why would I want to do that?”
[G] “so you can get into college. It’s just BASIC MATH!”
[me] “Gavin, Ki has 5 more yrs until he goes to college. He’ll learn what he needs when he’s ready.”
[Ki] – “SIX! I have six more years until college, I thought”
[me]-/counting on my fingers/.. “yep, it’s 6” /ki, lets out a BIG sigh of relief/
• See what happens when you don’t use grade levels- you never know exactly how many years until college!

After Ki did his Brain Gym Therapy, he played Math Blaster and did a page or 2 from his Miquon book.
A bit later I went outback to check on Connor and Ki. I asked Ki if wanted to do the sidewalk chalk project from his Science book that he asked about this morning. I was told “NO” by Connor, who informed me that Ki was doing experiments in Physics. Ki had a big stick and a bungee cord. Connor said that Ki had already tested gravity and found that the laws of gravity were indeed pretty accurate. I’m so glad I have Ki to prove the laws of science are accurate and hold true.

I left as Ki was testing, what I can only assume was Newton’s 3rd Law of motion, as he pulled the bungee cord back with 1 end attached to the stick to see how far it would launch in proportion to how far it was pulled back.

I then check on Gavin who is diligently hunched over his laptop and ask what he is doing. He tells me he is making a detailed model of the earth on Lightwave from some images he imported from a NASA Website. Then he goes on to tell me about the pixels and something about 500 yards I think; which is followed by a viewing of his earth model before it is renderable.

So I go to take my shower and Ki decided he’s ready to draw the Dinosaur head. He’s moved the picnic table and swept the back porch. We get out his science book and read about the Pliosaurs and the 9 foot head of the Kronosaur. Or was it a Kronosaurus? Anyhoot- He measure out 9 feet and larks the the ends. The he makes a cross measurement of 3 feet for the height of the head. He uses the picture in the book to draw the head with cone-shaped teeth. Then he labels his picture and lays down beside it to see how the huge mouth measures up to his body.

I still don’t know what Connor did today. I think he did some Geometry at a interactive math website. He was going to do some chemistry and reading.


Saturday, March 21, 2009

long babbling update of business

Reality : we are busy. Busier than I really want to be. But this is how it is. I am finally getting a new schedule/routine that works.

MONDAY- been baking and Monday is a good AT HOME day to get some baking done. MONDAY is the day we pack up for Tuesday's classes, but we have to pack before dinner. No more packing up at the last minute. We have Church Classes from 6-7 or 7:30, them eat. We tried eating at 5 or 5:15 as soon as Brian gets home, but [A] we don;t have time to clean up before we leave [B] we never can get it finished and were a couple minutes late [C] sometimes Brian just can't get home in time. So, last week I made CrockPot Chicken {gavin LOVED, Connor and Brian devouredit, too) heated some rolls and nukes a bag of seasoned frozen veggies from Trader Joes. It worked well, so I will continue it. Let's not forget housework and school. **GOOD NEWS- the Gospel Class only have 5 more weeks. but I think I'll continue the schedule.

TUESDAY- wake at 7:30, eat quick breakfast, clean the kitchen, pack and foods that couldn't be packed the night before and be out the door at 9AM. The kids pack supplies for art class, laptop&school books & paper/pencils, water bottles, change of clothes for gymnastics/karate. I teach 2 ASL classes, they take ASL, P.E.,Art, do some school work they brought,Karate for Ki and Gymnastics for Gavin & Connor. I bring books to read and my notebook.

7PM is about the time we get home, have a snack (it's a 'grazing' day). Put away all the stuff we brought, play a bit and go to bed.

WEDNESDAY- no matter how many times I try to make myself be GREAT and make this a day at home to get caught up on school from Tuesday- we are all just TOOOOOO tired from Tuesday. I finally admitted it, changed it to an easy day with a little school in themorning & park/beach/Farmers Market for the rest of the day. MARCH 25 is Brian's birthday (he requested Salmon & mashed potatoes & chocolate cake). I want to go to the Farmers Market. on the 25th there is a BIG Craft Bazaar with Home Sales people. Pampered Chef (want a couple more things) and a mom from Karate does inhome candle sales adn invited me. So that starts at 5. then I can be home by 6-6:30 for dinner and cake/presents. I hoe to have the boys turn their Tueday Art Projects into B-Day cards- save us a step or two in our week.

THURSDAY- This will be our "GET BUSY doing school" day. Ki has Karate from 4:30-5:30 (getting home at 6-6:10). All 3 boys have youth group from 6:30-8. On Thurs, Brian makes sure G&C eat and gets a quick dinner ready for Ki, so he can eat quickly and go to church. Sometimes they grab Del Taco (cheaper than Taco Bell- cheaper than the grocery store, LOL) and just bring them to church.

MARCH 26- we are skipping Karate. We decided to see if we can skip every-other Thursday. It's a Tues/Thurs class. I'll be making the Aztec Soup and "Sub-Sandwich Buffet"- using stuff from Wed's Farmers Market. Wed's will usually be "Sub-Sandwich Buffet"- but Brian's B-day is this week.

FRIDAY- another "Buckle Down School Day" with Tues & Wed being light school days. Usually we have Small Group, a light dinner before we go and the boys usually make pizzas and watch a movie at home while we are gone. MAR 27 is a Homeschool Pot-Luck and Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt. I plan to make 2 batches homemade bread and maybe some fruit salad.


I have split my prayer list into 2 lists and have them emailed to me. Alternating List A and list B. I get requests online fromout church and I add those in each week. I also have charted my bible research. MON-prep for Gospel Class. TUES-WED is review of Monday's Gospel class (there are a bazillion scripture references each class and I use my Strong's Concordance and my MacArthur Study Bible THUR/FRI is Reading for Friday's Small Group. Saturday is reading/studying for Sunday's Sermon.

I just can't seem to get my Daily exercise. I can;t even get it in 3 times a week right now. I REALLY want to use my Pilates DVD regularly! I seem to get it twice a week and then it's just BUSY-BUSY-BUSY and bike riding. Today we walked a looooooooong path/boardwalk to the beach and back.

I plan on a sit down meal once on the weekend. sometimes Saturday and Sometimes Sunday.

*** Next Week though-- I decided to take a School Break. We went 6 full weeks- so it's tiime for a fun break

Friday, February 27, 2009

PICTURES

check out all my picture posts! I put up a lot of photos tday here. only 5 per post, so it toook a few posts.... lots actually, LOL.